Thursday, December 27, 2007

It's a BOUT time...

Another very cool thing I was asked to do recently was a poster illustration for the Naptown Rollergirls. I have become connected to the Rollergirls (Indy's own bloodthirsty babes on wheels) through relationships within the art community. Jim Walker of Big Car, Masterpiece In A Day and Indy.com is very involved with the team and has invited me to judge the MIAD the last 2 years. In particular, though, this opportunity came to me from Jason Pitman, my friend and designer of the Big Car website and Rollergirls graphics among other things (and husband of my longtime friend Julie Pitman). I was honored and excited to be involved.

Initial sketch of final poster concept

Round 2 of approved concept. This was the sketch I 'vectorized' in AI.

The event is coming up this weekend and I plan to be there. The process of creating the illustration was a blast. I usually go with Adobe Illustrator for art that will be used in print. This allows total freedom for the designer to modify the art without sacrificing visual integrity at any size. With this piece, though, there is a grittiness to the nature of the scene that I wanted to preserve. So, I used the approved sketch and modified it in Illustrator. It's all vector, and there are lots and lots of paths.

It was fun to draw a badass babe in boxing gear because, obviously, I do not get called to do such a thing every day.

Jason came to the TOYS show and handed me hard copies of the printed poster. It looks awesome; I am quite proud. Jason took it the extra mile with the design of the poster.